Garrick A Moritz, Gazette
Oliviyah Thornton had grueling, but excellent week last week, as she attended the South Dakota Highway Patrol Youth Trooper Academy. Locally, she is only the second Garretson area youth to have participated in the program.
“It honestly started when my mom sent me a flyer about it,” Thornton said. “I’ve been strongly considering joining the [National] Guard and I’ve thought about a career in law enforcement too. I was nervous about applying, but in the end, I thought that the worse thing they could tell me was no, and I’d never know if I didn’t try. I also thought, that this would be a very good way to find out if I really wanted to join the military or be in law enforcement. Then, we came to the interview process, which I didn’t know was part of the process at first. I was super nervous about that too.”
However, her interview went extremely well.
“Later on, they told me that they appreciated my honesty,” she said. “I apparently impressed them because I got into the program.”
Thornton left for Pierre to attend the SD State Trooper Academy on Monday July 12, with check-in at 10:00 a.m.
“We were up early for physical training (PT) every day. Usually we’d get up at around 5:00 or so, so that we’d be ready for PT by 6:00 a.m. Breakfast was at 7:00 a.m. followed closely by room inspections.
“Just making your bed up to standard is intense,” she said. “The physical training was grueling and intense. I couldn’t make those standards, but I never gave up, and they said that’s what counts. Teamwork, relying on each other and working together is something they really showed us how to do. I made some new, very true friends this last week because of this academy.”
Thornton said the first day was all about orientation and what expectations her instructors were going to have for them. Tuesday was almost exclusively classroom learning, including the policies, procedures and codes of conduct officers have to follow. Wednesday they did some more classes and did some job shadowing, learning from individual officers their different tasks and assignments, working from patrol to dispatch and everything in-between.
This was also the day they got to take police cruisers out on their training course. The vehicle of choice for the SD highway patrol is the Dodge Charger, a powerful and speedy vehicle when modified for police needs. Thornton said that was both fun and a little terrifying to drive these police cruisers.
On Thursday they had a little more classroom and practical learning, learning the Highway Patrol’s DUI procedures. Then it was a course in gun safety and a day at the gun range.
Thornton said she learned to fire a handgun, a M-16 rifle and later on a shotgun.
“We had a whole afternoon and evening out at the range because afterwards we had dinner out there sponsored by the American Legion. The Legion guys brought shotguns and so we did a little trap shooting as well. As someone who had never fired a gun before that day, I think I did pretty well and I enjoyed it.”
Friday was their last day, and included the commencement ceremony. For Thornton, it was a little more stressful than most, because she had been selected for special honors.
“Okay, let me give you some context,” she said. “On Wednesday I was really worried, worried that I’d done something wrong or gotten into trouble somehow because they called me down by all myself. But right away, they told me, that no, I wasn’t in trouble, in fact it was the exact opposite. Apparently, I impressed them. They said I had a good attitude, admired my honesty and that several instructors had noticed my positive attitude. So, they wanted me to give the commencement address. I said yes, that I would, and I was happy to do it, but yeah, it really put the pressure on because I wanted to do a good job. So, I wrote the speech, went through with my instructors several times because I wanted it to be perfect. Then I found out that instead of just families coming to the ceremony they were inviting both the public and the press to come. I was super nervous, but everybody said I did a great job. Not just my family but several members of our local Garretson Legion who were there too.”
Thornton said that she does wish to pursue the National Guard and law enforcement in her future and that she learned a lot of valuable lessons this past week.
“One thing I thought was very valuable was that I got to know many officers on an individual basis,” she said. “I got to see their human side, which is a side most people don’t get to see. I can see that most people in the profession are good people just trying to do their best at a job that is complicated, difficult and intense.”
Thornton said that she learned how to hone her confidence and discipline.
“If you struggle with self-discipline and self-confidence, and I know I have, going to this academy will change you for the better. They don’t only tell you how to improve yourself, they show you how to do it. They show you how to set goals and how to achieve them. They show you the true value of teamwork and how to rely on each other. Everyone struggles, everyone needs help, and we learned how to help each other so that we all succeed.”
In short, Thornton said this was a great program and she was happy and proud to be a part of it.
